(The Signs in the Silence)

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

"I lost control . . . lost control and I don't take any pride in that." He'd lost control of his emotions in the interview room when Mike Shenfield had hit his wife and he was embarrassed. There were things Booth couldn't tolerate and the abuse of women and children were high on his list. He'd shoved Shenfield against the wall and it took a lot of his will power not to beat the hell out of the man.

Brennan knew her partner was upset about losing control, but she understood why he did it. "He kidnapped and abused her." The fact was, the Shenfields had kidnapped a baby fifteen years ago and that baby had grown into a young woman who couldn't speak. They had been desperate to have a child, but they couldn't accept the fact that the child they had wanted to raise wasn't perfect. They had abused the girl until she ran away from home and Brennan found that abuse unforgivable.

"You know, when I grew up . . . I had a father . . . Never mind." He knew his partner knew about his past and he didn't really want to talk about Edwin Booth anymore. Not if he could help it. "I got to do better . . . you know? I have a son of my own and look . . . I just . . . I don't want him to see that side of me . . . ever." It worried him that he could lose his temper and lose control. He wasn't his father but it made him sick to think there was a fine line he could cross that would make him as bad as Edwin Booth.

She knew he was upset, but Brennan knew that Booth was a good man and he could never hurt his son. "Your son is very lucky, Booth. You have to know that." She meant what she was saying and it was important that he knew she was right. As far as she was concerned, he was a very good man.

Grateful for her kind words, Booth smiled at Brennan and continued to walk through the rose garden. "Yeah, but I just . . . I want it to be about more than luck." He needed to control his temper better and try to be the good man Brennan thought he was. He had an awful temper and he needed to control it better than he had been. He could never allow himself to turn into the abusive man his father had been.

Oooooooooooooo

Amy Shenfield was now with her real parents and the Winslows were eager to take her home and renew their relationship with her. The Shenfields were locked up and were going to be tried for kidnapping and child abuse. Caroline promised to find a few other charges to charge them with and Booth believed that Amy was going to get justice.

While sitting in the diner, Booth sipped some of his coffee and found it wasn't sweet enough. After he shook another sugar packet, he poured that sugar into his coffee. "Bones . . . tell me about Maluku."

Surprised, Brennan placed her cup of hot tea down on the table. "I have told you about my trip to Maluku . . . what other information do you need?"

After he sipped some of his coffee, Booth placed the cup down and looked at his partner. "You told me about being attacked by some insurrectionists and how you protected yourself and Daisy from them and you told me about all the rain you had to deal with, but that's about it. Tell me about what you did . . . did you have fun?"

Not sure why he was interested in her trip, Brennan sipped more of her tea then set the cup down on the table. "You know I was contacted by the Maluku Committee because a full set of interspecies hominid remains had been found in Maluku and my expertise was needed . . . It could have been a crucial link in the evolutionary chain. It suggested that homo floresienses may have mated with early homo sapiens."

Booth tried to pay attention to what she was saying, but she wasn't saying anything new. A little frustrated with the situation, she hadn't told him what he wanted to know and he wasn't sure how to ask her. "Yeah, I remember you saying that it was an important find and that's why you wanted to go." He had always felt that had been an excuse to get away from him and their work for the FBI. The Gravedigger trial had shaken Brennan's confidence in herself and probably him as her partner and he hated Taffet for that. He blamed Taffet for his partner running away from him. "I know you didn't find what you were looking for, but you kept looking, so you must have had enjoyed what you were doing."

"No, not really. The dig was unsuccessful." When Brennan had accepted the invitation to be part of the dig, she had thought she would be part of something great, but it had turned out to be a colossal waste of her time. "I was already considering returning when Caroline contacted me. Seven months on a dig and nothing to show for it . . . When I accepted the offer to join the project, I didn't know that would happen but it had been a risk I was willing to take . . . Still, I didn't accomplish anything . . . If the Maluku project had been a success, everyone associated with the Maluku team would have influenced scientific research for years to come. I wanted to be part of that so that was why I stayed so long."

Booth had heard her reasons for going on the dig, but for all of her talk about how important the dig was, deep down he really did think she had gone on the dig to get away from him. "I know the Gravedigger trial made you question working with me . . ."

"Booth, I didn't go to Maluku to get away from you." She wanted to be clear about that. "Angela thought that was why I wanted to go, but it wasn't. This was an important expedition and if it had been a success it could have had far reaching ramifications."

Not sure he believed her Booth knew that it was possible she didn't understand the real reason why she had gone on that dig. He knew his partner had problems understanding the motives of the people she met and worked with, but he felt she might not understand her own motives either when it came to love and relationships. He knew she had been anxious around him after he'd asked her to take a chance on him. He still didn't understand why she had turned him down, but he did know he had upset her at the time and afterwards she'd placed a shield between them. He didn't know if she had done that to protect her or him, but that shield made their friendship awkward and he hadn't known how to fix what he'd broken.

He still regretted that he hadn't handled that very well. "I shouldn't have gone to Afghanistan. It was a mistake . . . The Army wanted me to go . . . you were leaving and I didn't see any reason to stay . . . I was just . . . I had plenty of reasons to stay but I ignored them . . . I guess what I'm trying to say is that without you here I didn't want to stay . . . If I'd have stayed and waited for you, I wouldn't have met Hannah and . . . well, I should have stayed here where I belong . . . You were unhappy and you were looking for something to make you happy. It was my fault and I know that. I just hope we can . . . I hope we're past all that and you're happy again."

She wasn't sure what to say. She had been afraid she'd damaged their friendship after she had turned Booth down in front of the Hoover and she had been certain he would quit being her friend sooner or later. The weeks leading up to the Gravedigger trial had been awkward for both of them and when the trial had started their awkwardness had intensified. Taffet had tried to manipulate everyone who had been involved in her prosecution and Brennan had found that she was the main target. Brennan had found her sleep to be filled with nightmares and she'd witnessed her partner die over and over again in those nightmares. She began to worry that if she continued to be Booth's partner, he would die and there would be nothing she could do to stop it. Once the trial was over, she had been exhausted and needed to renew her faith in what she did. She had thought the Maluku project had been the answer and in a way it had been. Being away from Booth and the Jeffersonian gave her distance from her problems and it allowed her to think about her future. She had come to the realization that she might have made a mistake when she had turned Booth down. She had worried that she wasn't strong enough to deal with a failed relationship with her best friend, but rejecting Booth and keeping him at arm's length hadn't been the answer. When she came back from Maluku, she had meant to talk to Booth about that night in front of the Hoover, but he'd told her about his girlfriend before she could say anything and she had remained silent. She knew she'd missed her chance and working the Lauren Eames Case had emphasized that fact. Booth had found someone else to live his life with and she had to live with that.

The fact that Booth and Hannah were no longer together gave Brennan another chance and she was willing to try a relationship with her partner. It might fail like all of her previous relationships, but Booth meant a lot to her and dare she believe it, she might even love him.

Her silence was making him nervous. He'd known this was going to be a tough topic to talk about, but he didn't think ignoring the past was going to fix things between them. "I shouldn't have asked you to take a chance on me outside the Hoover. You weren't ready and I knew it . . . I'm sorry."

Slowly shaking her head, Brennan reached across the table and placed her hand over his hand. "You have nothing to apologize for. Sooner or later, you were going to ask me to try a relationship with you and you chose that night to try . . . I wasn't ready then, but I'm not sure I would have been ready no matter when you asked . . . I told you I don't have your heart . . . I'm not romantic and I'm still not sure I believe in love, but I have thought about it . . . about love and I know that what I've been doing hasn't been satisfactory nor has it made me happy . . . I think most of my imperviousness is gone and your anger has lessened . . . I believe that soon . . . I feel that we might . . . I just need a little more time, Booth. I'm not quite sure I trust myself . . . Soon, Booth. I think it will be soon."

He knew what she was saying and it lifted a burden he'd been carrying around with him for a long time. When she was ready, he knew he would be. Rushing her could destroy what they had and he knew that. "Whenever you're ready, Bones."

Oooooooooooooooo

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